Work vs. Passion: Do we ever find our TRUE calling?

"Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life."

Many of us have heard this quote before. I am a true believer in it, but it can be hard to separate work from passion when it comes to your career path.

While working at my camp job this summer, I was talking to one of my co-counselors (who was also my former camper) about to enter into her freshman year of college. She was planning to go to a general liberal arts school to study nursing. I remember having an intense, deep conversation with her while we were on one of our beach trips standing in the ocean. "Nursing isn't really what I want to do," she said, "I wanted to go to a school in NYC to study Fashion Merchandising. I got in, but it was too expensive and I can't afford it."

This made me sad. Not only for her, but for the Millennial generation and future younger generations after us. It's so hard to get any job these days, let alone a "dream job," so most of us just have to settle for what's given to us. I remember when I was starting my freshman year of college and it was time to pick a major. I chose to major in Communication because my sister majored in the same thing and told me that she took a class where she got to analyze TV shows. I figured I love television and pop culture, so I should pick that major too. On a more rational note, before choosing the University of Hartford, I looked at the selection of classes for the Communication major and thought that a lot of the classes seemed interesting, which validated my choice.

Once I started college, I was still lost. I wasn't taking many classes for my major in my first semester because I had to take the normal Gen-Ed classes and other intro classes in my major first. I even scheduled an appointment with my advisor as part of my "Freshman 101" class (they called it "Freshman Dialogue" at my school) to discuss what the major entailed. He explained the three emphases that were offered, Human Communication, Media & Journalism, and Advertising & PR. I was 99.9% sure I would pick Media & Journalism (SPOILER ALERT: I DID!) but I was still unsure. The meeting was no help. I decided I would take intro classes for every category within my major and do process of elimination based on whether I liked the class or not.

For me, it wasn't a typical moment where I knew what I wanted to do with my life. It's not like when you become a ballet dancer at age 3 and something hits you, and you say to yourself "This is what I want to do one day." I used to say when I was in middle school that I wanted to go to NYU to be a filmmaker because I watched the movie RENT and identified with Mark Cohen in a weird way. Not too far off! But I was only a kid. In college, I had a random realization toward the end of my sophomore year when I was watching an episode of my favorite TV show. I would joke that the writing of it was so horrible and that I could do a better job fixing the storyline so it would be more realistic. That's when it hit me: I wanted to be a TV writer/producer. Or so I thought. I took classes in TV production my junior year and loved it. Being in the TV studio sparked a something in me that I haven't felt before. I eventually joined the school's student television network my senior year but unfortunately it seemed like it was too late.

I put my passion on hold for awhile because I was having trouble getting work and the media & entertainment industry is fucking BRUTAL if you have no connections or experience. But I never let it fade, no matter how many times my parents told me to pick another field or have a "Plan B." I recently decided to become a contributor for a theater website because I figured if I ever did get a job that I hated, at least I would have this gig to have some sort of creative outlet. Unexpectedly, I did get a "real job" shortly after in my field but I still have this gig because theater is something I am passionate about.

So to answer the question: "Do we ever find our TRUE calling?" I don't know. Maybe I won't ever be a TV writer/producer but it's possible that my "calling" was right in front of me and I didn't even realize it yet. In my opinion, I think my calling is to be a writer or journalist but who knows? Only time will tell. For now I'm going to enjoy the ride up the ladder and see where it takes me....